Picnic Problems
by ninewood
Summary: Based on the CBeebies show, Tree Fu Tom, Twigs tries to save a picnic from the Mushas.


The sunlight shimmered on the leaves that surrounded Treetopolis while Twigs soared on the leaf his friend, Tom, was using magic to keep in the air and Twigs whooped as the leaf sailed over the branches. The leaf dipped and bobbed around the branches when Tom lowered the leaf to the ground as Twigs tumbled off the leaf and laughed as he landed on his bottom.

"That was great!" Twigs said as he stood up and pushed his acorn hat up with his finger. Suddenly Ariela landed as they smiled and she arched her cowboy hat back on her head.

"Howdy, fellas," she said.

"Hi, Ariela," Tom said.

"Hello, my Butterfly Buddy," Twigs said as she rested one of her arms on the top of his head and he smiled.

"Are y'all busy?" she asked.

"We were just leaf surfing," Tom said.

"Well, I am planning a little picnic at my ranch and…"

"Whoo-hoo!" Twigs said then frowned from interrupting her and placed his hands behind his back. "Sorry, I'm just hungry."

"You're always hungry," Tom said and they laughed. "So, Ariela, when is the picnic?"

"It's this afternoon. I'm inviting Zigzoo, Squirmtum, Rickety and Treetog and everyone has to bring their favorite food," she said and Tom wondered if it was alright to bring Big World food to the picnic. He knew that Twigs might be able to eat some, but he had to figure out what he could bring for the others to eat.

"Sounds like fun," Tom said.

"Then I'll see y'all later," she said then flew away and Twigs tapped his finger against his lips.

"Hmmm, what to bring?" he said then looked at Tom and noticed the look on his face. "What's the matter?"

"I'm trying to figure out what to bring to the picnic. I mean how do I bring Big World food to Treetopolis?"

"Yeah, that could be a problem," Twigs said as he nodded his head when he got an idea and smiled. "You could always go home and leave the food on the ground then we can use Zigzoo's size-a-scope to shrink it!"

"Oh, that sounds like a great idea! Let's go talk to Treetog to get permission then we'll go talk to Zigzoo!" Tom said as they flew away, but they didn't notice the Mushas, Stink and Puffy, hiding behind a rock.

"Did you hear that, Dear Sister? They are going to have a picnic and didn't invite us!" he said and Puffy sniffed, wiping a tear from her eye.

"Yes, how rude," she said and Stink smiled, rubbing his tiny hands together.

"Then let's make sure this is one picnic they'll never forget!" he said as they giggled and ducked behind the rock.

"I am sorry, Tom, but even if we could use Zigzoo's size-a-scope to shrink Big World food down to our size, I'm not sure if we could eat it," Treetog said as Tom forwned and she gently patted his shoulder.

"Then I won't have anything to bring to the picnic," he sighed.

"Not necessarily," Twigs said with a grin. "You can always help me with what I want to bring."

"And what are you going to bring?" Treetog asked.

"I, um, I don't know," Twigs said then nervously giggled and she smiled.

"Well, whatever it is. I'm sure it will be good," she said as they said their goodbyes and left her office.

"So what are we going to bring to the picnic?" Twigs asked as they flew toward Ariela's ranch when a loud squawk filled the air and a robin flew right at them. Tom didn't have time to catch him as Twigs turned into his acorn form and Tom flew down while the robin flew after him. Tom zigzagged through the branches when the robin squawked and flew away. Panting, Tom had sworn the robin had dropped something when he flew down to see where Twigs had landed and was happy to see Twigs sitting on what appeared to be a ball made of spider webs.

"I'm alright!" Twigs shouted while waving his hand and Rickety smiled up at Tom.

"I saw him falling and whipped up a quick web ball to break his fall," Rickety said while Tom landed and nodded his head.

"That was too close," Tom said as Twigs hopped off the web ball and stood next to him.

"Yeah, I was nearly bird food," Twigs said when he saw something lying on the ground and picked the peanut off the ground. 'What is this?"

"That's a peanut," Tom said with wide eyes.

"I didn't know peas grew from nuts," Twigs said and Tom softly giggled.

"They don't. See, a peanut is a nut, which is grown underground, and it's really tasty," Tom said while Twigs made an "O" shape with his mouth and wiggled the peanut side to side. "And that gives me an idea!"

After saying their goodbyes to Rickety, they flew toward Zigzoo's house when they landed and walked up the stairs. Suddenly soft boom came from the house while smoke billowed out of the doorframe and they coughed, waving the smoke away.

"Oh dear, that wasn't supposed to happen," came from behind the door when the door opened and Zigzoo walked out, covered in flour, ashes and what looked like buttercream frosting. "Ah, Tom and Twigs, you are just in time to taste my latest creation!"

"Uh…," Tom said when Zigzoo ran back into the house then came back with a dish with what looked like two biscuits and Twigs sniffed the air.

"Oooo, those do smell good!" he said and Zigzoo smiled.

"Go on then," Zigzoo said as they took the biscuits off the plate and Twigs nibbled on the biscuit. "I call them my "Many Berry Cakes"! They are filled with chuckleberries, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries and huckleberries!"

"They're deeeeeeeeeeeee-licious!" Twigs said and licked his fingers. Tom nibbled on the biscuit then nodded his head and Zigzoo clapped his hands.

"I am so glad that you liked them! I'm bringing them to the picnic!"

"That's why we're here. I need your help with what we're bringing to the picnic," Tom said and Zigzoo's eyes widened.

"I say, and what would that be?" he asked and Tom showed him the peanut. "Oh, I know what that is! It's a peanut, isn't it?"

"Yeah, and we were wondering if you have something we can use to turn it into powder," Tom said and Twigs wondered why he wanted to do that.

"Oh yes! This way," Zigzoo said as he opened the door and they went inside the house. The smoke had cleared as they went into the kitchen and they walked to the table. "Now where did I put that hammer?"

"Uh, Tom, what exactly are we doing?" Twigs whispered while Zigzoo tossed cooking utensils out of the drawer and Tom smiled.

"You'll see," he said when Zigzoo walked back to the table with a wooden hammer and placed the peanut in a cloth bag. With a few whacks with the wooden hammer, he placed the peanut powder into a mixing bowl then looked around and smiled.

"Tom, bring me that blue pitcher and that red pitcher please," he said and Tom nodded, walking to the counter. Twigs looked into the mixing bowl while Zigzoo pour some water from the blue pitcher into the mixing bowl and mixed the water and peanut powder together with a wooden spoon. Zigzoo tasted the brown paste then placed a little salt in the mixing bowl and used a clean finger to taste the brown paste. He then placed a little honey from the red pitcher into the mixing bowl and used the wooden spoon to mix everything together.

"That should do it," Zigzoo said as Tom used a clean finger to dip into the brown paste and placed his finger in his mouth.

"It's perfect!" he said as Twigs sniffed the brown pasted then dipped a clean finger in and tasted the brown pasted.

"That is good!" Twigs said with a grin.

"Thanks for your help!" Tom said and Zigzoo nodded as they left the house. "Ok, let's go to the ranch!"

"Okey-dokey!" Twigs said as they flew away and Tom held the mixing bowl tightly in his hands.

Ariela had placed the last of the ladybirds in the pen as she closed the gate and watched as Tom, Twigs, Zigzoo, Rickety, Squirmtum and Treetog arrived and Zigzoo unloaded something off the back of his cart.

"Uh-oh," Ariela whispered as Zigzoo started checked the machine and softly hummed to himself.

"Hello, Ariela," Squirmtum said while holding a blue bowl in his hands and softly smiled at her. "Hope you don't mind that I brought Mum's berry pudding."

"No, that's fine," she said while watching Zigzoo moving around the machine and rubbed his hands together.

"Yes, that should do it," he said then looked at the blanket, dishes and glasses in the boxes near the barn and pushed the button. All were surprised as the machine made a loud clanking sound while moving toward the boxes and were more surprised when the machine spread the blanket neatly on the ground and set the plats and glasses on the blanket before settling down near the cart. "Oh, it worked!"

"Good job, Zigzoo," Ariela said.

"Yeah, his inventions don't always work," Twigs whispered and Tom smiled, rolling his eyes.

"Shall we place the food on the blanket?" Treetog asked as Ariela nodded her head and they walked to the blanket.

"Sorry, Ariela, but I couldn't think of anything to bring," Rickety said.

"That's alright. Looks like we have plenty," Ariela said, looking at the bowls and plates of food and Twigs coughed, holding up the Squizzle.

"How about we play a game of Catch the Squizzle before we eat?" Twigs asked.

"Sounds like a great idea. Just don't get too close to Tea Biscuit's pen. He's being a bit ornery today," she said and they nodded their heads. As they started playing with the Squizzle, Stink and Puffy slowly peeked around the side of the crate and Stink smiled.

"Let's go," Stink said as they ran toward the blanket and picked up the bowls and plates of food, placing the food in the boxes Puffy was carrying. Walking by the ladybirds' pen, Stink smiled then opened the gate and the ladybirds skittered out of the pen. "Run!"

"Oh no, the ladybirds got out!" Ariela shouted while the ladybirds skittered one way and Stink and Puffy ran the other way and Twigs' eyes went wide.

"And the Mushas stole our food!" Twigs said, pointing. "Don't worry! I'll stop them!"

"Twigs! Wait!" Tom shouted as Twigs flew away and the ladybirds headed for Tea Biscuits' pen.

"Look out!" Treetog shouted as Tom used magic to place a shield between the pen and the ladybirds and the ladybirds skittered off in the other direction.

"Hurry, we have to get the ladybirds back in their pens!" Ariela shouted and they ran off to catch the ladybirds.

"Slow down!" Puffy said as they ran down the path and the boxes in her hands wobbled back and forth. "These are heavy!"

"Keep running," Stink said, looking behind him and saw Twigs coming closer.

"Give that back, you food thieves!" Twigs shouted as he flew by the flowers and Puffy reached into the box and tossed the bowl of peanut paste at him. The bowl of peanut paste hit Twigs as the peanut paste splattered over him and he shook his head, flying faster.

"He's still coming!" Puffy shouted then yelped as a ball of green light hit the ground next to her and Twigs growled, flying faster. "Go away!"

Reaching into the box, Puffy started throwing bowls of food at Twigs as he became splattered with food and tumbled into a large pile of leaves.

"I got him!" she said as she clapped her hands after placing the boxes on the ground and jumped up and down.

"And you used all the food doing it!" Stink said as she looked into the boxes and frowned.

"Sorry," she said as Stink frowned then heard something moving in the leaves.

"What was that?" Stink asked while the leaves moved and their eyes widened as something slowly rose out of the leaves. Covered head to toe in leaves and what looked like mud and red goo, whatever it was growled while shaking its body and stamped its feet on the ground. "It's a monster!"

"Run!" Puffy shouted as they ran down the path and Twigs turned around, flicking some of the leaves off his fingers.

"Where are they going?" Twigs asked while Ariela and Tom flew closer and landed next to him. "Hi, guys!"

"What happened to you?" Ariela asked with a smile and Twigs looked down at his leaf, peanut paste and jelly covered body and giggled.

"I was in a food fight. Though, to be honest, most of the food ended up on me!" he said as he licked his fingers and Tom smiled, folding his arms over his chest.

"You do know that you're licking jelly off your fingers," he said as Twigs' eyes widened and his mouth fell open.

"I-I am?" he asked then pretended to faint and they looked at him. Sitting up, he licked some more of the peanut paste and jelly off his fingers and smiled. "You know, mixed with the peanut paste, it's not half bad.

Their laughter echoed through the air as Twigs shrugged then licked his fingers and the sunlight sparkled off the leaves.

The End


End file.
